Training & Nutrition - Carmichael Training - recovery rides etc

From Carmichaels book, the one that has the 7 week training plan in it, on the advanced schedule there are quite a few days of recovery rides at 35-45 minutes in heart rate Zone 1 (60-65% max heart rate)

I had been riding significantly more than Carmichaels training plan, but never really did any recovery rides.
Zone 2 was maybe an easy ride for me which I rarely ever did.

The recovery rides are actually kind of fun. You can take in all the things you miss when you just go speeding by. But I only usually average about 15-15.5mph on these flat course recovery rides and it sometimes seems like it takes forever to get any decent miles in.

My previous daily workouts previously lasted 1 hour in the morning and 1-1/2 hours after work. Most workouts were probably in heartrate zone 3 where I averaged 19-21 mph and did some 5-10min all out intervals and I never felt tired or lacked energy for any ride. I was doing these daily rides about 4 times a week, with longer endurance rides on Sat an Sunday.

Does anyone think doing 2 1/2 hours of recovery ride in hr zone 1 on recovery days is going to be detrimental to Carmichael's program? At that hr zone, I feel like I could ride all day long and don't even break a sweat.

Also, what kind of performance gains have people seen from this program? It just seems like its pretty easy compared to what I've been doing for the last 6 months. I know the objectives of the program, but it just doesn't seem that difficult and I'd get about half the weekly miles in that I'm used to. I know it's the quality of the training, rather than the number of miles, but others experiences with the program would be appreciated.

I've done the trainright program for a few months, using the web-based (classic) version. I don't think I'm quite as serious as you are.

I think the Carmichael philosophy is best summed up as "work hard when you are working, rest when you aren't". The whole point is to impose the training load during the hard days and then use the other days to let your body recover.

If you have the right effort level on the carmichael workouts, by the third week or so of the progression, you should be welcoming the recovery rides. You may have to ratchet up the amount of interval work/tempo workout you're doing.

On recovery rides - and in Carmichael in general - you should think more about the amount of time you spend rather than the distance.

How are you setting your zones? If you haven't done the carmichael fied test, you should do that. If you don't do that, you won't be able to set your HR ranges well.

Hope that helps.